


the one where Colin is gay and Bradley just needs a rebound

by cheese



Category: Merlin (TV) RPF
Genre: Drinking, Intoxication, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-29
Updated: 2012-08-29
Packaged: 2017-11-13 03:14:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/498813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheese/pseuds/cheese
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Traveling all over the world takes its toll, and all Colin wants right now is to get off with a mate. When Bradley drops by unannounced, bringing girl problems and booze, that all goes to hell though. Right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	the one where Colin is gay and Bradley just needs a rebound

**Author's Note:**

> written for [this](http://kinkme-merlin.livejournal.com/2936.html?thread=985720#t985720) kmm prompt.
> 
> thanks to cyus for the beta and constant encouragements.

Declan was just getting properly into sucking Colin's cock when "You're the Voice" rang out through the flat, breaking the rhythm of the slurping and skin-on-skin. 

"Fuck." Colin said, trying to stretch to the edge of the couch without releasing his grip on Declan's hair and thrusting up into the tight heat of his mouth. 

Declan tried pulling off but Colin held him there. "Don't- don't stop...so close." The pressure was building low in his belly and he hadn't gotten off in weeks, busy flying here and there, promoting this or that, blueballed to hell and back.

Declan grunted around his cock but kept it up, and Colin knew he'd have to make it up to him, that an old mate didn't deserve this kind of one-off fuck, but a couple pints and they'd be right as rain.

_-we're not gonna live with fear-_

Colin managed to grab the phone and slid his thumb to reply.

"Now's not really the best time, Bradley." Colin tried not to grunt in between each word as Declan's tongue swirled around his cockhead before sliding back down, the tip of Colin's dick hitting the back of his throat.

"Cols! Colscolscols!" Bradley's voice broke through, past the haze of the hot mouth on his cock. "Just been a while since I've seen you. Mr Big Shot movie star. Heard you're back in Lon _don_ though." 

Colin pushed Declan onto his cock more, making him gag, but thrusting up anyway, fucking him through it. Declan looked up at him, and lifted his lip to bare his teeth. Colin got the hint, lifting his hand. Declan started to pull off completely, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"So...are you?"

"What?" Colin snapped into the phone, at Bradley.

"In London, Colin? Are you at your flat?" Bradley's voice was quieter now, more subdued, sounds of city traffic in the background.

"Yeah, I'm in London, but this is really not a-"

"I'm gonna go now, mate. Early train tomorrow anyway..." Declan was getting his jacket, pointing to the door.

"What, wait-" Colin tried interrupting Declan, rose to get him to stay, erection flagging, sagging out of his jeans.

At the same time, Bradley rambled down the phoneline, "so I'm in the area, a couple of bottles, wanted to catch up, can I drop by?"

"Oh, fine!" Colin shouted after Declan and the shutting door.

"Great! I'm almost there. See you in a few, mate!" Bradley said and the line went dead, phone dark when Colin looked at it, wondering what the fuck had just happened.

Colin ran his hand through his hair and looked at his now-limp cock, sighing, and went to get cleaned up before Bradley got there. After years of working together, Colin knew that Bradley's 'I'm in the area' usually meant 'I'm outside your flat.' No time for a quick wank tonight, especially since Bradley normally meant booze. The splash of cold water against his face did little to destress and relax Colin, so he hoped the alcohol would.

***

Bradley smiled, slipping his phone into the front pocket of his jeans, paper bag with a bottle of vodka and some Guinness perched in the crook of his elbow, before making his way just around the corner to Colin's flat.

He hadn't wanted to say anything over the phone, didn't want to be That Guy and he _had_ missed Colin since they'd stopped filming, anyway, so this- break-up, being dumped, whatever, was just the push he needed to catch up with a mate...over a lot of alcohol.

He pressed the buzzer and waited for Colin to open, but before he could, a short guy with a ginger goatee and glasses opened the door and walked out, head down. He looked oddly familiar, but Bradley couldn't quite place him from anywhere.

"Cheers!" Bradley said and took the steps two at a time, making the three flights in no time.

He knocked on the door once before letting himself in, a habit from sharing a space with Colin for all those years.

"Honey, I've got booze!" Bradley called out, walking into Colin's flat. It just as he had remembered it, generally tidy, but with little bits of Colin all over the place - a teacup here, a dusty old book there. Colin emerged from the back, towel in hand, dabbing at his face.

He smiled at Bradley, but it wasn't quite the same as Bradley remembered. He seemed tired so Bradley pulled the bottle of vodka out of the bag, waving it at him. Colin rolled his eyes and went to the kitchenette.

Bradley stumbled over to the living room area and plopped himself down on the couch, tossing his jacket at the big chair across the low, glass table. 

"Coke or orange juice?" Colin called out from the kitchen.

"Both?" Bradley put the Guinness cans next to the table, the bottle on top and tossed the paper bag at Colin when he got back into the room.

"Nice." 

Colin set the drinks and glasses down and sat next to Bradley whle Bradley busied himself opening up the vodka and setting up the chasers.

"So what's the occasion, then?" Colin asked, glass of orange juice in his hand.

"Was in the area, missed the Merlin to my Arthur." Bradley looked up at Colin just in time to see him roll his eyes, but his face loosened up to a smile, one of the genuine, relaxed ones that Bradley had been accustomed to. It put Bradley more at ease, loosened some of the tension  
he'd felt in his muscles ever since- nah, not enough booze yet.

He handed Colin the shot glass and lifted the glass before tipping it back down his throat, letting the burn of the alcohol hit all his taste buds and spread throughout his body, numbing some of the pain. Bradley refilled his glass without even it down and took another shot before taking a sip of the orange juice.

Ignoring Colin's scrutinous gaze boring into him, Bradley refilled the shot glass one more time, this time topping Colin's off as well and gulped it down quickly, setting the glass down on the table with a clatter. 

"Oi, coasters." Colin reprimanded him and picked up Bradley's shot glass placing it, along with his own, on a coaster Bradley thought was way too artsy-hippie to do a good job, but it probably degraded into thin air or something stupid and was so painfully _Colin_ , that he couldn't comment. Definitely not tonight.

"Sorry." Bradley said instead. "So, tell me about it."

"What?" 

"Everything." Bradley sighed, the alcohol slowly warming its way through his body, making him melt further back into the couch, head askew over the back, Colin's face at an odd angle. Bradley waved his arms, "Fame, fortune, globe-trotting, mate. All of it. How was it down under?" Bradley waggled his eyebrows.

Colin shook his head and rolled his eyes, but a small smile tugged on his lips, and Bradley could see he was tired, but it'd been so long since they'd seen each other. Not like the other breaks where endless promo stuff kept them together. This was Colin doing his own thing, moving on and it was hitting too close to home at the moment. 

"Bit chaotic, to be honest. A lot of people came out. I wasn't expecting that many just for me." He ducked his head and they were back on even ground. Bradley laughed.

"Mate, you're _Merlin_ , 'course they'd come out and see you." He shoved at Colin's shoulder, still sprawled out on the couch and left his hand there, mere inches from Colin's skin, radiating heat. Or maybe it was just the booze. His mind was getting cloudy in a pleasant way. "So. Did you get any time off, though?"

Colin knocked Bradley's arm down and bent down to retrieve a can of Guinness, cracking it open and curling up on the opposite side of the couch, facing Bradley. "Yeah, actually. Was nice. Got to see some koalas and kangaroos, bit of sightseeing, y'know. What about you?" 

'Fucking kangaroos,' Bradley thought, remembering a video Jonny linked him one time. He chuckled to himself and bent down to get a Guinness for himself, a distraction, anything to put off answering Colin's question. 

He knew Colin would be able to see through it, years of working together ensuring that they can read one another easily, pick up cues, work off each other. At work, embedded deeply in a scene, this kind of synchronicity worked wonders, created amazing on-screen chemistry and unforgettable scenes, but here, in Colin's living room, without the cameras, it was kind of suffocating. 

"Yeah, been keeping busy, working on a movie with Noel Clarke," Bradley saw Colin's face light up, his posture straighten out, "but it's not much, y'know. I'm just there...interchangeable white guy." Bradley laughed at his own joke, watching Colin's eyebrows scrunch up. "But yeah, it'll come out before the olympics sometime, all topical."

"That's great, though," Colin kicked at Bradley's thigh amicably, "but I guess you don't get as much of a break as last year. Gotta rest, up, James!" He grinned at Bradley and broke into a grin, "But, oh, Gee must be happy for you, big screen role." Colin took a swig of his Guinness just in time to miss what Bradley imagined to have been his face dropping, feeling the coil of pain unwinding in the pit of his stomach. Even with the vodka making everything seem better than it was, Bradley knew he couldn't avoid it, and tipsy, he couldn't school his expressions back quickly enough for Colin not to notice. He didn't have time to say anything, to explain, as he watched the look on Colin's face change, his mouth forming into a small wordless 'oh.'

"It's- different schedules, different countries." Bradley looked at his hands, not wanting to face Colin's scrutiny. There was dirt under his fingernails and he couldn't remember how it'd gotten there. "Was bound to happen sooner or later, I guess. It's- never mind. Don't want to be a downer."

Colin moved quickly and Bradley recoiled, his sluggish brain unsure what to expect, but Colin placed his beer on another coaster and refilled the shot glasses, topping off Bradley's glass of orange juice. "Well. There's only one thing to do then." 

Bradley looked up, trying to gauge Colin's meaning, but he continued, handing the shot glass to Bradley. "Get spectacularly drunk." His grin was blinding and they clinked their shot glasses, downing the vodka in tandem. Bradley's orange juice sat forgotten on the table, the beer a far better chaser. 

Bradley sat up while he still could, not wanting to spill anything on the moss green couch. The move brought him closer to Colin, their legs almost touching, who grabbed the empty shot glass from Bradley and refilled it one more time. He handed it back and held his up in a toast, "To kind of misquote a brilliant lyricist of our times - you got 99 problems but a bitch ain't one!"

"I'll drink to that!" Bradley said, laughed, and they clinked their shot glasses, vodka spilling on their legs before spilling down their throats. 

Bradley was feeling even warmer, fuzzier, happier. "Thanks, mate." He knocked his shoulder against Colin's, reveling in the comfortable closeness of another body, of just being, no pretexts or pretenses. He downed the rest of his beer and put the empty can on the table, without a coaster, then pulled off his jumper and tossed ti in the general direction of the chair where he'd dropped his jacket. 

Leaning back against the couch, head back, eyes closed, Bradley let the pleasant numbness spread, circles dancing behind his eyelids. He turned his head after a few minutes of silence, opening his eyes to find Colin watching him, their faces inches apart.

"Col?"

***

Colin only thought about what he was doing after his lips had been firmly pressed against Bradley's for a few seconds, probably. He started to pull away, about to cite too little sleep and too much booze and laugh it off but as their lips parted he could hear Bradley let out a whine and cling to Colin's arm. Bradley moved his body across the couch to drape over Colin's, legs in a desperate tangle as he mashed their lips back together without finesse, but with so much basic need that Colin threw caution to the wind.

His arms reached up around Bradley's back, not quite as broad as he'd remembered from the countless hugs and half-hugs(but he wouldn't question it, not now), fingers digging in, bunching up the thin fabric of his shirt. Bradley's hands moved up to frame Colin's face on either side, giving Bradley leverage to move on top of Colin. Their legs continued as a tangled mess, though Colin managed -- with nails digging into Bradley's shoulder blades and lips pulling away reluctantly to begin to say "I gotta-" but being silenced by another fierce kiss -- to make Bradley settle enough to untangle his legs from underneath him. He splayed them wide, framing Bradley's hips, his cock a throbbing pressure against the denim, too tight but not tight enough. Colin thrust his hips up and moved his hands to Bradley's shoulders, massaging, the heat sinking in from his fingertips and crawling up his arms and down his spine to settle deep in his bones. Though it was probably just the booze and blue balls talking.

When Bradley settled in properly between his legs, hips aligned, Colin moaned out thrusting up, needing more than the slow rocking motion Bradley settled into. Suddenly all franticness disappeared, the kiss turned to a wet slip and slide of lips and tongues, teeth grazing and nipping, harsh panting breaths drowning out the silence. Colin slid his hands down Bradley's back and pushed the tips of his fingers under the waistline of Bradley's jeans, barely teasing the top of his boxer briefs. 

Bradley moaned into the kiss, biting down on Colin's lower lip and tugging, the pain making Colin's eyes roll back in his head, and his cock throb in his jeans. With his hands insistent on Bradley's fit, toned arse, digging in and urging, Colin managed to make him fall into a rhythm of hard friction, each thrust and graze of their cocks against each other driving Colin wild with need. 

It was when Colin properly dug his nails into Bradley's arse cheeks that Bradley pulled away from the kiss and just looked at Colin, a vision with his hair all mussed and lips kissed red, looking nothing like Arthur, but everything like the guy Colin fantasised about when they'd first started working together. It seemed like he wanted to say something for a moment, but instead he pecked Colin on the lips once more and sat up, focused. He made quick work of opening up Colin's jeans and tugging them, along with Colin's briefs, halfway down his thighs, a gasp falling out of his mouth when Colin's cock sprang free. Colin couldn't hold back a moan when it bounced against his stomach. He clinched his hands in the fabric of the couch with Bradley's arse too far away to grip and dig his nails into, and waited, eyes closed, as he heard Bradley undoing his own jeans. 

Bradley smoothed a hand up Colin's arm, soothing, and back down his chest, pinching his nipples. Colin shuddered and thrust up, barely holding back a moan, the quiet of their harsh breaths having become the only soundtrack Colin wanted to hear. But Bradley's low chuckle reached his ears, reminding him of days spent in sunny France, smelling of spring and metal and horses. Colin almost told Bradley to hurry up then, or shucked him off, but right then the weight on top of him was back and Bradley pressed himself up along Colin once again.

They both groaned out as their cocks tentatively rubbed against each other while Bradley attempted to align himself against Colin once again. Colin let go of the couch with one hand and brought it up to the back of Bradley's head, a rush of lust overcoming him, bringing their lips together in a messy kiss. 

Bradley's thrusts, which had just began a rhythm, faltered, then sped up, a desperate air about them. Colin's hand returned to Bradley's back, raking a trail down to his arse, clinging and pulling Bradley closer in a desperate chase after release. Though their cocks rubbed against each other at a frantic pace, it wasn't enough. Not nearly. So Colin literally took things into his own hands and broke the kiss, licking a wet stripe over his palm - Bradley's eyes going wide with shock or lust, something - before sliding it between their bodies and gripping both their cocks.

Bradley's head fell to Colin's shoulder, breaths coming out in moist pants against exposed skin. Colin had to shush him, to still him with a hand so Bradley's cock didn't keep sliding out of his grip in his desperate thrusts. Instead, Colin held their lengths together tightly moving his hand up and down. 

Colin got lost in the rhythm, a pleasant slow-build of arousal deep in his belly, mind finally devoid of thoughts, of feeling bad for doing this and taking advantage, but when Bradley began to mouth at his neck, his hands clinging to Colin, his rhythm faltered. It broke. Colin couldn't hold back and thrust up into his palm, his grip tightened and with a few more hard, tight strokes, he was coming. 

He bit deep into his lip to keep his mouth from opening, saying things that may have once lingered on the tip of his tongue. Bradley, who'd been happy to let Colin jack them together now resumed his thrusts, rhythmless, manic, until he grunted, biting at Colin's neck and Colin felt his warm come spilling, mixing with his.

In the aftermath, they shared a few sloppy kisses, Bradley nearly collapsing right on top of Colin. Colin wasn't sure if Bradley could tell, but it was awkward. The alcohol and adrenaline left Colin's system all too soon after and the drying come was uncomfortable. 

"I-" Colin started, but his voice got stuck in his throat. Bradley looked at him, eyes still glazed. "I gotta uh-" Colin lifted up his hand and Bradley scrambled backwards, letting Colin up.

Colin was glad for the privacy of his bathroom, letting the water run as he stood and looked at himself. He knew he was stretching out the inevitable, felt a bit like an asshole, but he had to kick Bradley out, had places to be. Surely Bradley would understand. 

When he finally left the bathroom, he nearly ran into Bradley in the hallway, clothes mostly back on. Bradley held him steady and grinned at him, soft, easy, like he always did, like nothing changed. Colin smiled back, but wondered if it may have been more of a grimace as Bradley went in to clean himself up.

Colin took in the room and decided a thorough clean-up would have to wait til he got back, but he couldn't just leave it a mess, so he got to work on the bottles and cans first. He neatly placed Bradley's things on the chair where he'd tossed his jacket and headed to the kitchenette.

When Bradley came back out, it was awkward for him, Colin could tell, the way his face clearly always showed emotions, his smile dropping to confusion, sadness, before falling back into place. Not for the first time, Colin thought people probably didn't give Bradley enough credit as an actor. 

Bradley rubbed his hands against his thighs, walking toward the chair with his stuff. "Well, won't keep you, mate, sure you've got somewhere to be tomorrow. Thanks." He looked at Colin and ran his hand through his hair, a nervous tick Colin knew all too well. He looked like he was about to add more, but Colin couldn't do this. Wouldn't.

"Look, I just- I'm just really busy now, Bradley. It's just not the right time, k?" Colin said, picking up dishes and laundry, tidying before he had to leave again.

"That's what she said." Bradley said, an empty laugh echoing through the flat. Colin chuckled along, arms full of things and began to turn to head to the kitchen.

Bradley shook his head, blinking once, twice, and looked out the window before nodding at Colin, grabbing his jacket and heading out without another word.

It took Colin two days to realize Bradley wasn't trying to be funny.

[the end]


End file.
